Fallen Demons
by Mitsukai Akuma
Summary: A young woman with a secret has a dark past and she can't trust anyone. Until she reaches Fairy Tail, where she eventually lets her guard down. But will she be betrayed in a deep game of lies and battles? Mentions of NaLu, GaLe, Gruvia and Jerza. OC fic. M for language and themes.
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

_It was midnight in the small town__ of Magnol__ia and__ there was no one out except for me. A hood was pulled over my head, hiding my features from all recognition. Goodness knows what I was doing out there at such an ungodly hour, but now that I look back on it, it was a perhaps not a wise decision, but it was lucky I made the choice._

_I stood beneath the Sola Tree in the park. The moon was bright in the sky, blocking most of the stars. I inhaled deeply and breathed out, feeling an odd rush of peace. Despite the beauty of the night, I couldn't help to note the odd atmosphere. I couldn't put my finger on it; but something was wrong._

_It was only a few minutes later that I could feel the prescence behind me. Through the quiet night, I could hear his ragged breathing and his failed attempts to keep silent. I chuckled softly, almost inaudibly, before turning to face him. "And what do you wish to gain?"_

_The look of surprise on his face was astoundingly amusing. He was so surprised I had to fight to keep in my laughter. "I don't know what you're talking about."_

_I paused for a few moments and sighed. "I could hear you before you got close to me. You wouldn't have been able to pull a surprise attack even if you'd tried."_

_"I was trying!" He protested stupidly before realizing his mistake. "Oh..."_

_"That confirms my suspicions. Sir, you are in big trouble with the officials. I know only too much of your crimes. Hmm, the trafficking of illegal substances is one." My head tipped to the side slightly._ _"You were originally planning to meet someone here just tonight, were you not? And I bet you just couldn't resist when you saw the young lady standing by herself, which brings your next crime to question." Needless to say, he was shock. And needless to say was also the said other crime._

_"Y-Y-You're-" He began to stutter, but I cut him off short._

_"I'll tell you a secret. I was sent here to fetch you." I leant forward slightly, my voice dropping to a whisper._

_I paused, waiting for his response, but there was none. I sighed and straightened up. "How about we play a fun game? You just stand still, right over there, and allow me to knock you unconcious without protesting?"_

_"You-You're one of those guild types!" He breathed._

_I didn't respond, as his assumption wasn't true. __I just blinked and fiddled with the cuffs of my shirt, waiting for him to stand where I had instructed. But he didn't._

_"Oh dear," I sighed again. "I guess I'll have to resort to bloodshed." With a single gesture, I cast my cloak aside__ and faced him squarely._

_He gaped. "You're not from a guild!"_

_I grinned wryly. "Surprise," and my fist went flying into his face._

_He was immediately thrown backwards. He went skidding across the grass and fell on his backside. His nose was bloodied and he was clutching it painfully. "Y-You bitch!"_

_I was unfazed by his cursing. I simply kicked him in the stomach which caused him to splutter helplessly._

_I knelt down so my face was level with his, aware of how open it left me, and squinted to stare into his eyes. "You're not as tough as they made you out to be, you know."_

_He weakly attempted to punch me in the face but I caught the fist without too much effort. "Now," I told him calmly. "Are you going to let me sedate you without any protesting or do you still have some fight left in you?"_

_He twisted his arm to try and throw me off. Unfortunately for him, that left him open and I punched him again in the face._

_I got up, leaving him laying unconcious on the floor. "That should do it," I said to no one in particular. "Now I suppose I should wait for those guild members to arrive. They would probably be disappointed that I was the one who got him, but they would deal with __it._

_I wonder which guild will come this time, I mused silently. __Last time it was Lamia Scale, but I had no interest in joining them. Maybe it will be Sabertooth, or maybe Fairy Tail, if I'm lucky._

_I sifted into my pocket for the pen and notepad I had made sure to bring along. On it I wrote,_

_Hopefully this helped you wizards catch the perp. Maybe we will meet someday and share work, but for now, treat this as a gift._

_I signed my name at the end and placed it neatly besides the unconcious man. It was going to be dawn in a few hours, which meant the mages would be coming out. His usual place was the park, as I had noted earlier on, and everything had gone accordingly to plan. They would come along, see the note and be grateful, hopefully. All that was left was to wait._

**Ehh... I felt like that wasn't a very good start. Oh well. I'm attempting to work on the next chapter, but I'm having a bit of writers block, plus I'm kinda working on a Black Butler fanfiction too, and I'll probably start an OHSHC one soon as well.**

**DAMN YOU, FANFIC IDEAS!**

**Alright, I'll post the next chapter as soon as I finish it!**


	2. Chapter 1

**The next morning...**

**Natsu's POV**

"Get up, Luce! We need to catch the guy today!"

"Go away! Get out of my house!"

"Come on, Lucy! You can have some of my fish if you do?"

"I doubt that's gonna help me get up any faster..."

It was a regular Friday morning at Lucy's place. As usual, Happy and I had gone into her house at what she called 'an ungodly hour' and tried to get her to come to the park to catch the guy.

We took the job the week before, to hunt down a guy who was selling drugs and 'taking advantage' of lonesome young girls. The job request stated that he went to the park often to do his business and we were certain he would be there today. But Lucy just wouldn't budge.

"Come on, Lucy! If we don't go now, he'll get away!" I pleaded, shaking her by the shoulders. She groaned.

"Fine! Let me get changed at least!" She had no time to protest before I grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the window.

"No time. Come on, you can change afterwards. Let's go!" I pulled her out of the window and down onto the ground. She shrieked and danced around, yelling that she didn't have shoes, she was still in her pajamas and stuff. But we still went anyway.

It didn't take long to get from Lucy's house to the park. As soon as we approached, we stopped short.

"There's..." Lucy's voice trailed off as she stared

"Nothing there!" I exclaimed. "What the hell?" I ran towards the tree. "The request said he-" I skidded to a halt again as the air before me started to shimmer. Tentatively I raised a finger to touch the l

glimmering air but before I could do anything, it peeled away, revealing the guy we had been searching for.

"What was that?" Lucy exclaimed, obviously perplexed.

"Dunno, don't care. Here's the guy, and he's out cold!" I knelt down beside the unconcious man and noticed a neatly folded piece of paper on top of him. "Lucy, Happy! Come here!"

They came to my side and as soon as Lucy saw the note, she snatched it out of my hand. "A note?" She opened it and read aloud. "Hopefully this helped you wizards catch the perp. Maybe we will meet someday and share work, but for now, treat this as a gift. From..."

I peered over her shoulder at the note. The name read Eira. "Huh. How do you say it? Ey-ra, maybe?"

"Or Aye-ra!" Happy added helpfully.

"Actually," then there was an unknown voice. "It's pronounced. Aira. Hello. Nice to meet you." The person stepped out from behind a tree. They wore a cloak that shielded them beyond recognition. By the scent, I knew it was a female.

She tipped her head slightly. "Fairy Tail, huh? Impressive. Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia. Quite the couple, aren't you?"

"Oh, no!" Lucy tried to rapidly make amends. "We-We're not a coup-"

"Don't forget me!" Happy jumped up and down, his little furry arm raised.

"Ah, yes. The cat." Her voice held the same polite tone. "Happy, is it?"

"Aye!"

I put a hand on his small back. "Shh." I told him, standing. "Who are you?" I spoke loud, addressing the woman.

I didn't need to see her face to know she was rolling her eyes. "You are an idiot."

"I'll burn you!" I retorted, about to rush forward when Lucy put a hand on my shoulder and shook her head.

The cloaked woman stood up straighter. "I am Eira."

"So you..." Lucy started to question, but Eira nodded anyway.

"Yes. I was the one who took him down. Early this morning actually, around 3 to 4. Thought he could swipe a defenseless young woman." She shook her head, chuckling quietly.

"He thought wrong, I take it?" Lucy said.

"Aye." Happy sounded not-so-happy. "You did him in pretty well."

"I'll say," I remarked. "Hey, what kind of magic to you use?"

"I didn't use magic to take him down."

"No, but what magic do you use?" I pressed.

She sighed. "That won't be revealed to you."

"But-" I was about to protest when Lucy tugged my vest as a little signal.

"Hey, Eira?" I inhaled and restarted. "You took this guy down for us. So you should get the reward."

"No, no, I couldn't possibly-"

"We didn't do the job, you did! So we can't take it if we didn't take him down!"

"Please, no-"

"Eira, it's a general rule with him." Lucy broke in. "He won't budge. It's inevitable."

I grinned and grabbed Eira's hand. "Come back to. the guild hall with us!"

"No..." She protested helplessly as we dragged her down the road to the guild hall.

···

As soon as we got there, she pulled away. "Natsu, stop. I'm sure they won't like me at all."

"Sure they will!" I grabbed her arm again. "Come on, they warmed up to Gajeel pretty quickly."

"No. They-" I silenced her by pulling her into the guild hall.

She ripped her arm free of me and tugged her cloak further over her face. "Fine..."

She starting walking towards a table in the corner when people noticed her. "Hey, who's that?" Max frowned as Eira sat down. She didn't respond.

Lucy followed her and sat down. She started talking, and I didn't pay any attention to their conversation. _Why is Eira so wary of everyone?_

**Lucy's POV**

"Hey..." I sat down beside Eira and she turned her head away from me. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just don't trust people at the drop of a hat." Her voice was coldly polite. "I apologize if I'm ruffling any feathers or coming off as a bitch." I had to stifle a gasp. Eira seemed like the kind of person that was too polite and reserved to swear. She started laughing. "You're probably thinking that I'm not the kind of person that swears. And you are wrong, Lucy." She turned her head back to me and tipped it to the side a little. I could only see the tip of her nose and her mouth. A small smile tugged at her lips. "This is a nice guild."

"It is," I replied. "Are you thinking of joining?"

She hesitated. "I've been wanting to join a guild," she finally said, "but none would accept me."

"Why not?" I asked, bewildered. "As far as I'm concerned, I think you'd be a valuable guild member."

"Maybe I did something wrong," Eira mused, then cut off quickly.

"Like...?"

She didn't reply.

I just shrugged. "If you don't mind me asking, why do you always keep your cloak covering your face? I'm sure you are very pretty."

Eira shook her head a little bit. "If, in the instance that I _did _do something wrong, I don't want to be arrested in case I'm a wanted criminal."

I almost laughed. "Wouldn't you know if you'd done something like that?"

"Not in my case." She stood and I wondered what she had meant by her words. "Well... I think I'll leave."

"I don't think so." A familiar female voice said. I looked up at who it was. "Who are you?"

Eira tipped her head upwards to face the pretty mage. "Hello, Erza Scarlet. Nice to meet you. I'm Eira."

"Is this woman from another guild?" Erza asked blatantly.

"No need to be so untrusting of her," I jumped to Eira'a defense. "And you should really be nicer to her. She's a newbie here."

"You say that like I'm joining the guild." Eira said quietly. "Honestly... I don't think you guys want me here. I'm a nuisance."

"Nonsense! You're nice, from what I've seen!" I answered cheerfully. "The only problem is, we haven't seen your face yet."

"Lucy... I don't usually show my face." Her reply was quiet with the same tone of voice that she used before.

"What about us?" I ask gently. "We're your friends. You can trust us."

She reluctantly nodded. "Only you. Come with me."

Eira stood up and walked into the ladies room. I followed her and closed the door behind me, making sure that no one was following.

She took a deep breath. "Okay... I haven't shown my face to anyone except my mirror before... Here goes." She pulled off her cloak and turned to face me.

Her eyes were the brightest blue and her hair was long and brown. She was skinny but curvaceous at the same time.

"Wow..." I breathed. "You're pretty, Eira."

She shrugged and pulled her cloak up again. "I dunno what pretty really means."

I decided not to comment. "Why don't you leave your cloak off?" I suggested.

Eira shook her head. "Oh, no. I'll keep it on."

I sigh and let her have her way. "Eira... What magic do you use?"

"I don't think you need to know that." She says promptly.

"Come on... What's so bad about telling me what magic you use?" I ask, giving her a sad smile. "You can trust me, Eira. I'm your friend."

"We aren't. We've only known each other since this morning!" She turned on me, her cloak flying off. Her eyes were angry, and she looked really scary. I took a step back and my hands went to my keys. "I can't trust you yet!"

"You can!" I protested. "I don't know why you're so untrustworthy of me! I want to help you!"

"What if _you _betray me too?" She cornered me, her eyes blazing. "I can't trust anyone anymore. This isn't some game! _Trust _isn't a game!"

"Eira, calm down-" I began, but the door flew open and Natsu barrelled in.

"Get away from her!" Eira gasped as he yelled and she quickly pulled her cloak on, disappearing into thin air. "Huh?!" Natsu came to a skidding halt and gazed around wildly. "Where'd she go?"

"Natsu, do you know where you are...?" I asked him, stepping forward.

"Yes. I'm in the bathroom."

"More importantly, the _girl's _bathroom, you idiot!" I smacked him on the head.

"Don't- Hey, aren't you hurt?" He stared at me, bewildered, and I shook my head.

"She wasn't hurting me," I told him and he clenched his fists.

'Doesn't matter!" He yelled. "It looked like she-"

Someone gasped and spluttered, and I heard a thump as someone appeared behind Natsu. I looked past him to see Eira laying on the floor, panting heavily. "Oh, God!" I cried, rushing to her side. "What did you do?!"

She coughed and sat up, tugging her cloak over her face again. "Shouldn't try_ that _again."

"Get away from her!" Natsu pulled me back and stood in front of me, flames enveloping his fists. Panic rose and I pulled his arm. "No! Don't hurt her!"

"Why?" His head whipped around and the blazing anger in his eyes took me aback. "She threatened you! I can't-"

"Within good reason!" I retaliated, pushing him aside with all my might and kneeling beside Eira again. "Leave me alone, alright?"

I could almost feel his heart sinking, and I immediately felt horrible. I was about to make amends when he walked past me. "Whatever. You won't see me for a while, then."

The door closed behind him and my head sagged. My eyes focused on the white tile on the floor. A droplet of water fell onto the tile I was looking at and I frowned. _Huh? _Another. And another. _Am I crying?_

My hand felt around my eyes. The skin was damp. _Why am I crying? This shouldn't hurt..._

"Why..." I was startled out of my sorrow by Eira's voice. "Why would you protect me after I did that?"

"You did nothing," I assured, giving her a tear-stained smile. "I'm fine."

"Then why are you crying?" Her voice sounded pained. "You..." Something clicked inside her brain and she looked up at me. "You are sad because of Natsu?"

"Why would I-" _You won't see me for a while, then. _"Oh..."

"Exactly," she got to her feet and offered a hand to me. "I can read emotions extremely well, and this situation is clear. I'll explain back at... Oh, that's right. I don't have a house." _Wha? That's an unusually dense remark for her to make..._

"We can go to my apartment," I offered, wiping my wet eyes with one hand and taking hers with the other. "You can stay with me until you find a place."

"That shouldn't be a problem." Eira replied. "I'm pretty nomadic, so I won't stay long."

We walked out of the bathroom and as we exited the guild hall, I could feel Natsu's gaze burning a hole into my back.

Within a few minutes, we reached my apartment. I took her into my kitchen and put the kettle on to brew some tea.  
"So," she began, "I take it you and Natsu are the best of friends, right?"

"Yeah!" I nodded, grabbing out two teacups from a cupboard.

"The way he wanted to protect you was astonishing, even though someone like me doesn't appear to pose a threat." Eira continued, clasping her hands. "But he was prepared to kick me while I was down to ensure no harm came to you."

The situation seemed clearer, and my selfessness seemed really like selfishness. "I... I didn't think of it that way."

"Natsu wants to protect you, Lucy." Her voice was quiet and understanding. "You were crying because his parting words were basically disregarding you as a friend. He would never do that, so rest assured. Alright? Everything will be okay in the morning."

I was silent as the kettle came to a boil, turning her words over and over in my mind. As the sizzling died down, I answered. "Thank you, Eira."

"No problem," that guarded tone was back in her voice again. "I'm only helping you because I don't want such a good friendship going to waste, alright?"

I chuckled as I poured the hot water into the teacups, placing teabags in them. "Alright. I totally believe you." I turned, walking to the table with the mugs in hand. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask you. You seem very... hmm, guarded around people you don't trust. What about the people you do trust?"

She contemplated before answering. "I suppose, different." Eira took her cloak off and laid it on her lap. "Very different. I don't remember what it was like to trust someone, though, and act differently. I'm not this cold at heart. I'm just being cautious."

_Huh? Can't remember...? _"Fair enough," I answered. The conversation seemed to cut off, but I spoke up again. "Join Fairy Tail."

"What?" She asked incredulously, giving me a strange look.

"Join. You have magic, and a lot of it." I smile at her. "I can sense it. You would fit in great in Fairy Tail."

"I... I can't." She murmured.

"Why not?" I asked persistently.

"See... I..." She trailed off. "I shouldn't. I would bring havoc." Eira stood and turned away. "Good night. I'll take the couch." She didn't take her tea with her as she left the room.

I sat there, sipping my tea as I watched the water ripple in her abandoned cup. She was a tough one, and she had too many secrets. She wasn't letting anyone in.

But I wasn't giving up yet.


End file.
